This calculator uses 7 different equations that are in use today to calculate a 1RM.

Calculate your estimated One Rep Max based on how many repetitions you performed at a given weight.

Calculate the weight to use on a Rep Max attempt.

I.e. You are progressively working up to a new 5 RM every week, this week you predict you can hit a 5RM that represents a 1RM of 440. Put in 5 reps and 440lbs, and smash ~380lbs for 5

Calculate the number of reps you should be able to get at any given weight, knowing your 1RM. Note: Lombardi and O’Conner et al. are very high estimates for some weights given the nature of their equation. I would not consider these accurate.

]]>https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/1-rep-max-rep-max-and-max-reps-calculator-7-equations/feed/0noelnocasLogging and Tracking Workoutshttps://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/logging-and-tracking-workouts/
https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/logging-and-tracking-workouts/#respondTue, 06 May 2014 10:15:31 +0000http://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/?p=500Not logging workouts is probably one of the biggest mistakes for those that are dedicated and motivated to make physical change in their life. I have been asked by people how I log workouts. It really isn’t an easy answer. I started on paper, graduated to a Word document, then to Excel, and then to Google Docs. I’m constantly trying new ways of logging my workouts with these goals in mind:

Ease of use – cumbersome logs does not provoke desire to log

Easy to track/search/review – Google Sheets are great for this.

Something I can change on the fly, or refine with my programming

It can be a bit tough to log into a computer every day, open excel and try and track a workout, especially when traveling. Google Docs is a 1up in the sense that if you are traveling you can jump on a buddies computer and get it done. Also, they have apps for iPhone and android which allow semi-ease-of-editing within the sheets. I can use this functionality in a bind, but my first choice is to use their forms. I’ll keep this short for now, but If you need more clarity on how to do this, leave me a comment. Within the excel sheet you can create a new form. Mine looks like this and I have it saved to the home screen of my phone:

Pretty simple right? This is an example of the output after 2 weeks of filling out this form. (I added the colors to separate weeks)

List of things I track in the excel sheet:

Date

Lift #1 & Weight

Lift #2 & Weight

Lift #3 & Weight

Lift #4 & Weight

Lift #5 & Weight

Accessory

Core

Skill

Conditioning

Stress

Fatigue

Hours of sleep at what quality percent (Obtained from the Sleep Cycle App)

There is a lot more you could probably track, but this is a good way to start. I have tried different varieties of forms for the past two years and they are great! I am mainly working on strength/Olympic so that’s my first priority, though this form can be made to log CrossFit workouts as well. Once you have data you can start looking at volume trends, see what kind of workouts you are doing the most and what you are missing. What time domain you perform well in, or what you decided to not include in your programming at all. This is a sure fire way to plan and critique your training better.

You may ask why I am separating the cells for Movement and weight, I didn’t have to do this, and I still may delete it, but I wanted to get some general volume numbers down for the cycle that I am currently on. In another sheet (in the same file) I have a volume calculating tab where I can track volumes from everything I am doing for the cycle.

That’s all, and I will consider that my 2nd week training update.

]]>https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/logging-and-tracking-workouts/feed/0noelnocasNPFL 3-Combine Data (Women)https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/npfl-3-combine-data-women/
https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/npfl-3-combine-data-women/#respondFri, 02 May 2014 09:09:14 +0000http://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/?p=489Thank you for your responses and for viewing the last post on the male results from the past three combines. What an awesome community we have. All of you were super encouraging and enthusiastic about it.

I apologize for not getting this data for the women out sooner. Ladies first, I know…don’t tell my mother. I initially was just looking at the men because I am male and was curious how the men stacked up. Also, there was more male data (more men competed than women) and I usually like more numbers. It’s 1 am and I am still in deep with the data for the women, so this will be an abbreviated summary of their performances for the past 3 combines (LA, Dallas and ATL). Hopefully some of you can read this before you compete today.

Initial thoughts:

WOW! You ladies are amazing.

Strong athletic performances by the women, I love to see where this sport is growing in the female performances

Men typically have solid strength backgrounds due to football/other sports in highschool and college but I think the growth for women (in strength/performance numbers) will out-run the growth for men relative to respective averages. You ladies have so much potential and are just now tapping into it all!

Your relative chances of returning to perform the team workouts on Sunday will be higher (than the men) because there are less women overall. However, you still need to perform well (at or above average) in the events you choose.

Most athletes participated in 7-8 events. Picking events can be tricky. You want to show what you excel in, that should be first priority. Second priority (in my opinion): you want to pick events that you can beat the average, or at least fall in that range. For example: the average 1K row time for the combine was 222 seconds (3 min 42 sec) and the standard deviation was 11 seconds. So if you choose to row, try and get better than the average, or at leastbetter than one standard deviation above average (below in the case of weightlifting events). That would equate to 3 min 53 seconds for ladies.

I hope these numbers are accurate – they will be close. It’s been a whirlwind of numbers, and my data spreadsheet is now too big for me to look at without going cross-eyed. I won’t do a detailed analysis of any one event in this post but if you want the numbers for any one event then get a hold of me via @noelnocas on twitter or nitrostrength.wordpress.com and I would be happy to help.

108 athletes participated in 21 events, 62 made it to Vegas

By the numbers – here is how they did

I have included the averages from all Combine athletes and the averages of athletes that made it to Vegas. All other numbers are just from the combine.

From previous combine post:

The law of large numbers that are normally distributed (basically) states that +/- 68% of the population will fall within 1 standard deviation of the average. It just so happens 68% of the athletes make it to Sunday. Yes this is the NPFL selecting 48 people per combine to come back, and is kind of a happenstance number of sorts. However, I believe that performing within +/- the standard deviation of average for any one event is in your benefit.

So how do you make it to Sunday?

You get selected to perform on Sunday based on your performance. That simple.

I think you can do things to maximize your performance over the course of the combine. Your likelihood of being selected for Sunday is going to be in direct relation to how you perform. Here is what I can offer:

Have fun. You have trained for this, feed off of the energy and let that propel you to PR’s

Smart Choices: Please don’t do 20 events. If you did make it to Sunday who knows how you would feel.

Be true to yourself: Make event choices that showcase your athletic potential and what you can bring to the table.

You may be told that certain events want to be seen more than others. If you perform these you should think highly about how each one will affect the result of the next.

Look at the numbers from other combines, if you think you can perform an event higher than average, or at least within 1 standard deviation below average this will be in your benefit.

Meet new people and develop connections. Ask for advice from other athletes or share a trick you have. Our community thrives on this. Competition is not your enemy.

Becky Conzelman has a great post on here experience from the ATL combine. MUST READ

I hope these numbers help you today, or help you get an idea of where you need to be if you have a goal of going to a combine next year. Like I said in the previous post, you are where this data finds value. Hopefully you can think of some way to look at it to improve your training, your regionals team, or maybe your client/gym programming. If you have any questions or have more ideas on how to look at the data, let me know!

Puppy for the ladies – via @cuteemergency on twitter:

]]>https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/npfl-3-combine-data-women/feed/0noelnocasOWDcE_400x400140501 Training Updatehttps://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/140501-training-update/
https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/140501-training-update/#respondThu, 01 May 2014 08:55:28 +0000http://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/?p=472I have been getting some questions about what my training will look like for the next 3 months or so. Most of you know that I have been concentrating on trying to increase my weightlifting total and overall strength. Since mid-November I have been concentrating on weightlifting primarily and performing little-to-no cardio (CrossFit) work. The main reason for not getting much conditioning in is time restraints with my job. Also, I want to maximize my weightlifting skill and strength numbers without classic CrossFit stuff interfering (i.e. perform 75 snatches for time – which is tough to do without breaking down in form).

This is the basic overview of my training plan. I will re-assess it at about 6 weeks and make small tweaks to volume and intensity depending on how I am feeling daily/weekly. I work 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off and time is limited during my weeks at work. This would be the plan if I had 2-3 hours to train each day or two 1.5 hour training sessions. I will have to modify the volume of accessory/core/conditioning work that I do simply because of time restraints.

The basic tenet of this squat cycle comes originally from the Texas method. Glenn Pendlay uses this for his athletes to maximize the squat but not interfere with the Oly lifts too much. 70sBig (Justin L) has some good information on how to implement the Texas Method. Read “Texas Method: Part 1” and “Texas Method: Advanced.” I decided to go with the Cowboy Method from Chad W Smith from Juggernaut Training Systems for a number of reasons but mainly because I felt that the stress on Mondays was less, and that front squats would help a ton with carryover for OLY work. Plus I will be cleaning on Wednesdays so some of the FS volume can come from that. Chad has some recommendations for how to merge the cowboy method with CrossFit so I combined that with the Pendlay style of programming and catalyst program to get my schedule

Volume and Light day numbers are based off of my training max which I arbitrarily assigned to 90% of my true max for both front squat and back squat. Intensity day has me going for 10RM, 8RM, 5RM, and 3RM squat attempts. The first week I will go for a 10RM that reflects my 434# (all-time max). The next week I will go for an 8RM that represents an increase in my all-time max by 5lbs or so ~440. I will continue to do this and judge my progress by how this is working out. I will use the equation:

[Weight * Reps * 0.033] + Weight =Projected Max

Solve for weight…

Projected Max / (Reps *0.033 +1) = Weight to attempt

Week 1 10RM = 326 (434 projected)

Week 2 8RM = 348 (440 projected)

Week 3 5RM = 382 (445 Projected)

One of the things that I will be looking at is how the volume day is affecting my max attempts and how the days feel. If they are too hard, too light, too easy…etc. Justin at 70’s big has a neat little chart on how to assess how the days feel on the Texas Method, so I will roughly follow that. If I need to decrease volume I will, but I will take small PRs happily. One of the things I don’t want to do is increase the K-value of the program too much as this will affect my speed and slow down progress on my OLY lifts.

Olympic Work

The basic template will come from Greg Everett’s Basic Rep Cycle (here) which is basically classic lifts for doubles and triples and basic linear progression week to week. I will take out all squatting for his cycle, switch up his snatch/CJ work from Saturday and move it to Friday, taking a rest day Thursday, and moving the Thursday work to after Saturday’s squat session. This 8 week general cycle could work too. But I will run this 6 week cycle for now, then depending on my needs for OLY work, change it up to more complexes or 3-position work. I would like to do more block work but given my schedule I don’t have blocks half the time…so maybe that means adding in stuff from the hang.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

SnatchSnatch Pull

Squat

-Jerk/pressing-power snatch or cleans

-Clean-Clean Pulls

-Frontsquat

Rest

-Heavy Snatch-Heavy Clean&Jerk

-Pullups

-Squat-Power work

-Pressing

Rest

Depending how things are going, and per how other people run the Texas method I may move clean pulls from Wednesday to Monday (swap them with snatch pulls), but this could be too much overall volume on Monday. In that case I could potentially move it to Saturday after intensity squats to add a little bit of volume on that day but most likely just keep cleans and clean pulls on Wednesday.

—- I will blend Wednesday Front squat volume with the clean volume so I get close to effectively the same volume for front squats for that day—-

Core work

I hate to say it, but I basically have a terrible low back. So I need to make it strong. My goal will be to pick one core exercise per day and hit it for hypertrophy. Depending on how I feel and the time I have I will try and implement this plan. It would be ideal to basically alternate static back/ ab flexion with back extension*/ static abs. And don’t do heavy back stuff on light or non-squat days. All kinds of ways to train the back here: Read this

Dude, I want to be FB (Froning buff)… But I won’t do it at the cost of recovery.

Seriously though: outlaw connectivity WOD or similar everyday if I have time, I also need to work on little things like lock out, shoulder strength, low back, internal shoulder rotation, etc… This won’t be something that I fry myself on. I would like to implement it into conditioning with skill work as much as possible.

Skill work

Handstand work, backflips, Invictus stuff, gymnastics, whatever I can think of or have time for.

Mobility

Daily mobility WOD + Outlaw Connectivity

Conditioning

I will not be doing a whole lot. If I do it will be 1 short intense per week, or it will be in the form of accessory “map” work where i am in the Z1 range and just slightly elevated heart rate. This will be how I combine the accessory and skill work into something that gets my heart rate up for longer than 5 seconds. I will also be hiking mountains, playing outside, sled drags. All that is fair game but I will watch closely how it affects volume and recovery…and use it for recovery if I can

Cycling

This will depend on how I feel after the first 3 weeks. If I am feeling good then I won’t deload till week 6 or 7, here I will assess if I should re-run the OLY cycle pick another one. To allow for super compensation I will plan on not retesting squat for 12 weeks.

Introduction

First and foremost: Thank you for looking at this. The interwebz is full of tantalizing material, so how you stumbled here is beyond me.

Second, but also foremost: I am an engineer, long winded, failed statistics, and suck at most things excel and grammar. I have a lot to learn and I am slowly building my knowledge base in the areas of strength and fitness. I think you are where this data finds value and is used, or ignored. Either way, the nerd in me enjoys looking at the numbers. A lot of assumptions, references to statistical smart person terminology will probably be wrong. Let me know if I am, but don’t shatter my heart. Please be nice.

Third, and definitely foremost: Use this data however you would like to, but please don’t plagiarize. My name is Noel, nice to meet you, you honest referencing person. MLA referencing is not necessary, but give me a shout out…so I can have at least more than 4 hits/month on my blog.

Name: Noel Nocas

Twitter: @noelnocas

Blog: nitrostrenth.wordpress.com

Contact me with any questions or if you would like a copy of the RAW data and the spread sheets I used.

Actual introduction

The NPFL is this pretty amazing idea to further the sport of fitness. They have done a great job on building it from the ground up and incorporating great sponsors. I won’t babble on, but I am excited about it. All this nerd stuff stemmed because I wanted to know what it took to be an NPFL athlete, or at least competitive at a combine. I wasn’t doing it for myself because I am a total badass and will probably oust Rich Froning in the games, plus be the #1 draft pick in the NPFL next year.

With the onset of the NPFL combines I was really interested in the caliber of athlete it took to be on that stage. What a perfect stage to collect data from – top athletes from around the country giving it everything they had in a 2 day event to see if they can make a career out of this crazy sport. I love it. So I grabbed the data out of initial curiosity, then I figured out I could make graphs and do little function things in excel. I am writing this for people from a few different viewpoints:

– As an athlete performing in or wanting to participate in the combine.

– As a “coach” training athletes that wish to make it into the NPFL, or be competitive on that level

– As a programmer wishing to effectively develop an athlete into NPFL “material”

– As a competitive weightlifter/CrossFit athlete that wants to see where the competition is at

Most everything you’ll need to see is in the first table. I will also draw conclusions on how an athlete needs to perform to make it to the third day of competition. If you are interested specifically in a certain event/stat and this doesn’t cover it then I will gladly share that data with you i.e. if you want to see the average row time for people that snatched over 275lbs. Hopefully you can use this for a future combine, to train an athlete, or to program your training. So here it is.

Disclaimer: I would not make it back to the Sunday workout portion of the combine. I’m pretty average in the sport of weightlifting and CrossFit and definitely could not keep up with these guys.

How to read what I am about to puke forth:

Data is from the MALE participants from the three combines (LA, Dallas, ATL). I will also compare combine athletes to athletes selected to move on to the next stage -“Vegas athletes”. To keep this short, I will do one in-depth analysis on the Snatch event. I have all the same data for the other events, but that would make this document way too long. If you want this data for any other event please don’t hesitate to ask.

A lot of the data I collected is analyzed using basic arithmetic equations. I also will reference Standard Deviation (SD) a lot. Standard deviation is “A measure of the dispersion of a set of data from its mean. The more spread apart the data, the higher the deviation. Standard deviation is calculated as the square root of variance.” – Source

A histogram basically collects data into “bins.” A bin is a range. For example 200 to 225 lbs., or 300 to 320 seconds, etc. In each bin/range there will be a certain number of competitors that performed within that range. i.e. 3 people snatched between 193 and 214lbs. The number of people in that bin is often referred to as frequency. For front squat:

In this case 2 people front squatted between 233lbs and 275lbs.

Most of the Bins you see are based on Standard Deviation. The first bin you will see is the average minus 3 times the Standard Deviation. Bins after that just add the standard deviation.

Got it? Sorry, I’m trying to make it simple.

IMPORTANT: The law of large numbers that are normally distributed states that +/- 68% of the population will fall within 1 standard deviation of the average…important if you want to make it to the third day of the combine.

Because sometimes we have a small data set, we can “normalize” that data and apply it to an imaginary population set of – in this case – 2,000 people. These imaginary people show the exact same trends as the actual data (normal trend using average and SD) but it gives us prettier graphs. It also allows us to compare a population set of 48 with a population set of 140…once again with a prettier graph. It also can give us an idea of what the sport of fitness will look like as it progresses in size.

21 events, 210 athletes

210 athletes participated in three separate combines. They had the option of choosing between 21 events on the first day. Here is how they did.

List of events:

Front Squat – 1RM

Press (strict) – 1RM

Overhead Squat – 1RM

Jerk – 1RM

Deadlift – 1RM

Clean & Jerk – 1RM

Snatch – 1RM

Clean – 1RM

Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups – Max reps in 90 seconds

Handstand Push-ups – Max reps in 90 seconds

Muscle-ups – Max reps in 90 seconds

Box Jumps (30/24″) – Max reps in 60 seconds

Pistols – Max reps in 45 seconds each leg

Double-unders – Max reps in 90 seconds

Rope Climbs – Max reps in 90 seconds

Handstand Walk – Max distance in 60 seconds

Farmer Carry (155/67lbs) – Max distance in 60 seconds

Shuttle Run – Max distance in 60 seconds

The following two stations are timed efforts:

5 Rounds of 12 Power Clean and 6 Push Press (165/105lbs) – 12 min cap

Row 1k

*Athletes will have eight hours to make their way to any/all of the above stations in whatever order they choose.

Event Participation

Here is how the numbers panned out for the number of athletes that participated in each event.

After doing a lot of the calculations and drawing some basic conclusions I was informed that in the [ATL] combine, athletes were informed “what coaches wanted to see on the tests. They didn’t care if you did all the events but they told us they wanted to see specifically front squat, snatch, 1k row, power clean met con, muscle-ups, and I think pull-ups was the other.” -Super secret source.

This explains the high density of athletes that performed these events. This is fine, because it gives me more data to choose from, but it adds a different element to the statistical analysis. I.e. what events are most likely to get you to the second day?

64 Athletes made it to Vegas – Here is the data:

How does that compare to all the combine athletes? As expected, averages are better across the board.

210 athletes competed in an average of 8 events.

Snatch – 1RM

As promised: the snatch data. I am a bit biased here because I like weightlifting. As mentioned above, if you would like the data for other events let me know. If there is enough demand I will put together a larger document/post with all the data.

140 participated in the snatch:

Of those 140 athletes, here are the frequencies divided into small bins:

Here the bins are selected by the standard deviation (SD).

Then I went on to aggregating the data normally over 2,000 “imaginary athletes” with the same average and SD. All it does is gives us a pretty graph if the data trends normally (red – below). The blue graph is the actual data (from the bin above.) This can give some great indicators on competitive athlete strength numbers.

Let’s compare all the combine athletes with just the athletes that made it to Vegas. This is normalized so we could visualize the combine athletes and Vegas athletes 1:1. The benefit of that is we can see if 2000 combine athletes went head to head against 2000 Vegas athletes, what would the numbers look like.

This graph is cool because it shows us that as more and more athletes are selected for future combines, we will most likely see a snatch in the 340+ range (statistically.) It also shows that the stronger weightlifters made it to the next stage, and that the density of strength was much higher in the 250 – 280lb range.

Now what… and some discussion

In my mind all these numbers basically will give baseline strength/performance indicators which can be used as goals for a developing athlete. In addition, I believe they can aid in strategy when performing in a combine – hopefully yielding in an invitation to the third day. We all ask the question “how in shape do I need to be to make regionals, or make the CrossFit games.” Similar to the open/regionals – I am asking the question about what an athlete needs to do to make it to the next stage – without the semi-randomness of the open or regionals clouding the air.

A note on self-selecting data:

“In statistics, sampling bias is a bias in which a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population are less likely to be included than others. It results in a biased sample, a non-random sample [1] of a population (or non-human factors) in which all individuals, or instances, were not equally likely to have been selected.[2] If this is not accounted for, results can be erroneously attributed to the phenomenon under study rather than to the method of sampling.” – WIKI

This data is absolutely a biased sample; it is self-selected and is not a probability sample. This is not a population sample or a “Gallup Poll” style competition. We aren’t pulling people off the street at random here. Individuals are invited or are selectively chosen to participate, and therefore any of the data extruded from competition cannot fall into a probability sampling definition.

For example, let’s take a look at the Boston Marathon. If we were run basic statistical calculations on all the participants of the race and say the average time is X and the standard deviation from the average is Y time, then we can use those numbers to see how an individual performed, or predict how an individual will perform next year…or even the probability that they will perform in the top 10%. The only reason we can run these numbers to predict how you will do in the marathon is because people decided (who knows why) to run the marathon. Similar to the NPFL, people decide to do an event (probably those who are more competent in that area) so we can pull data from it. The NPFL is pulling in the best competitive exercisers from around the country and is doing it in a way where individual performances can be measured discretely and mutually.

Addressing those that did not do the events and how that affects the results:

Why would someone not compete in an event?

1. Other priorities (what the coaches want to see)

2. Weak in that area (less than the Average minus the SD)

3. Injury of some sort.

4. You can’t do all the events.

Let’s take a look at the snatch: 70 athletes chose not to participate. I don’t know why. But we can assume that if they had a top 10% or even an above average snatch, they probably would have done it. Adding in the numbers from the 70 athletes would probably lower the average (slightly) and it is hard to speak to the standard deviation – but I could assume it would be similar (but larger or would not diverge tremendously.)

“Noel, why didn’t you do an analysis on the players that made it to Sunday? Doesn’t this yield all your conclusions on how to make it to Sunday totally useless?”

Frankly this would have been a lot of work. NPFL did not release an official list of those that moved on to Sunday from each combine (to my knowledge.) I would have had to comb through every race summary to get some of the athlete names, but I would have probably missed most the athletes that made it to Sunday. Does this mean the numbers from the first day are “non-factors?”

I would initially agree to this on the surface. But let’s look at the numbers.

UPDATE: My previous edit used basic statistical calculations to place a “probability of reaching the 3rd day of the combine value.” After some input from the community I have chosen to remove that data as it was very misleading. I did not know the numbers of who made it to Sunday, yet still placed a statistical number to them and spoke of them as holding truth. Thank you to those that helped me understand the mistake I made.

Up to 48 male competitors from each combine are invited to the next stage. This represents 144 athletes out of three combines (210 total athletes) and means that 68.6% of the athletes are invited to Sunday. So actually, more of the athletes are invited than not invited to Sunday.

I don’t know who was invited to Sunday out of the 210 athletes. But 68.6% were, and 67% of those athletes competed in the snatch. In comparison only 22% competed in the strict press. Does this mean if you perform the snatch you have a greater chance of making it to Sunday? No it doesn’t. Again, I have not compiled data for those that made it to Sunday (besides Vegas Athletes).

75% of Vegas athletes performed the snatch, 20% performed strict press.

What does this say? I don’t know really. NPFL coaches priorities, athlete priorities, strengths/weaknesses of athletes, etc… Does it mean that performing in strict press event, even near the average, is less likely to earn you a golden ticket for Sunday? No it doesn’t.

Remember, these are STATISTICS. They can be used to draw a hypothesis which can be tested against data. Technically it is illogical and incorrect to say if you press rather than snatch you have a lower likelihood of making it to Sunday. These are skewed because many of the athletes are doing what the coaches wanted to see.

The law of large numbers that are normally distributed (basically) states that +/- 68% of the population will fall within 1 standard deviation of the average. It just so happens 68% of the athletes make it to Sunday. Yes this is the NPFL selecting 48 people per combine to come back, and is kind of a happenstance number of sorts. However, I believe that performing within +/- the standard deviation of average for any one event is in your benefit.

So how do you make it to Sunday?

You get selected to perform on Sunday based on your performance. That simple.

I think you can do things to maximize your performance over the course of the combine. Your likelihood of being selected for Sunday is going to be in direct relation to how you perform. Here is what I can offer:

Have fun. You have trained for this, feed off of the energy and let that propel you to PR’s

Smart Choices: Please don’t do 20 events. If you did make it to Sunday who knows how you would feel.

Be true to yourself: Make event choices that showcase your athletic potential and what you can bring to the table.

You may be told that certain events want to be seen more than others. If you perform these you should think highly about how each one will affect the result of the next.

Look at the numbers from other combines, if you think you can perform an event higher than average, or at least within 1 standard deviation below average this will be in your benefit.

Meet new people and develop connections. Ask for advice from other athletes or share a trick you have. Our community thrives on this. Competition is not your enemy.

SUPER IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Puppy, because you deserve it for reading all of this (and for the ladies):

I tend to be pretty relaxed with my supplement admonition. I don’t recommend them for most people but I think they can help in certain situations depending on the goals of that person. If you are overweight and trying to lose weight and get healthy, supplements may not be the best way to go. If you are comfortable where you’re at aesthetically and mainly want to increase performance, supplements could add that extra 5% (assuming your food is in order) you need.

I’ve tried almost everything (legal) but I always keep coming back to food. Real food. My biggest improvements and best recovery comes when I manage my food appropriately (eat enough – eat for quality). I drop weight the fastest when I manage my food appropriately (eat a little less – eat for quality – increase MetCon load). Supplements may have given me an edge, but have never been the defining factor for me. Then again I am relatively new at this. I find that they work great as a supplement (go figure) but never when you use them to try and replace real, quality, nutritious protein, fat and carbs.

Because supplements are not regulated by the FDA, please do not try and buy the cheapest thing possible. Most likely they will use mass amounts of fillers in their “proprietary” blend, and you will be flushing your money down the toilet. Check out http://truenutrition.com/ they have solid stuff and allow you to build some custom creations that you wont find at any GNC. Remember though, FOOD FIRST. We like fast, quick, and easy in America. So we would rather dump hundreds of dollars down the drain in hopes for a supp that will zap the fat and pack the lbs, but that wont happen. Get a solid baseline with real food, then see if supplements will help later.

Suggestions

My buddy Jonathan Reid, who recently was awarded best overall male lifter and 1st place in the 77kg category of the 2014 NL Provincial Championships, was gracious enough to share his favorite supplements.

Things to note: John (and myself) hover around the 77kg category. We are in the 8-11% Fat range unless we decide to put on weight. This is a performance based prescription for one person specifically.

Okay, so that’s basically it. Everything with a (*) in front of it you should order on www.truenutrition.com in powder form (except for ZMA). The following quantities of each should do you 4 months, so order accordingly i guess:
Beta-alanine: 800g
L-carnitine: 500g
BCAAs: 1500g
Creatine: 1000g
Maltodextrin: 5kg
L-glutamine: 1000g
ZMAs: 2 bottles of 180 caps

Thoughts/Additions:

If you dont want to do true nutrition, and you have a local GNC you support: last time I went to GNC they would match any online price from any online store for the same product in their store. Just as an FYI.

For weight gain, I’ll add some BCAAs (reach 40 grams total /day) into the regimen at some other point in the day.

I have used dextrose before (instead of Maltodextrin). But because it is a shorter chain molecule it will upset my stomach occasionally. Malto/Sweet Potato powder is the way to go in my mind.

Vitamin C – YES! great for recovery

Multi-Vitamin – Eh… I’m not a huge fan. I have a bottle of a good multi-vits, but only take one occasionally to “fill any gaps.” If you are eating a balanced diet with lots of meat, fish, veggies, roots, tubers and some fruits you should be ok. (maybe need you’ll need some iodine)

I like a little L-arginine as well, 1 gram before bed, 1 gram pre-workout.

ZMA – I like it a lot! Plus it will give you some crazy dreams – which I enjoy. I also will use Natural Calm before bed if I want something warm and delicious. But remember Magnesium can act as a laxative…so “titrate” up on your dosage or you might be late for work in the morning.

I like a little caffeine pre-workout, so the Amino Energy for flavor and caffeine is a great idea.

UPDATE: Megan Anderson over at Crossfit Wrath in Tomball, Texas reminded me of the importance of Vitamin-D. Make sure you get plenty, especially if you work an office job and are stuck inside all day (me). I think liquid form is best, and in some sort of MCT/Coconut oil. Check out Carlson Labs for example.

Contact/Links

Remember, these are Jon’s specific numbers. If you want to chat about what could work for you, contact me HERE and for more nutrition links click HERE

]]>https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/supplements-for-health-and-performance/feed/0jon reidnoelnocasNutrition for Health and Performancehttps://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/nutrition-for-health-and-performance/
https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/nutrition-for-health-and-performance/#respondTue, 01 Apr 2014 20:46:24 +0000http://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/?p=431Just a quick and dirty link to people who know food. I will add recipe site and more in the future.

]]>https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/nutrition-for-health-and-performance/feed/0noelnocas140331 #14point5 #noballs and how do you spell #burpeeshttps://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/140331-14point5-noballs-and-how-do-you-spell-burpees/
https://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/140331-14point5-noballs-and-how-do-you-spell-burpees/#respondMon, 31 Mar 2014 21:22:13 +0000http://nitrostrength.wordpress.com/?p=424I don’t weigh much right now. 170 lbs actually. I have been increasing the METCON load a bit and I can definitely feel its effects on strength and recovery. Also, I have no balls. I am lazy and not dedicated. I’ll admit I lie in bed too long and miss over half my workout because I don’t want to man up, get out of bed and go lift. It will be something I will have to work on day to day, I have to. Others are getting better every day around me and I cannot afford to let myself slide stop whining and work harder next time.

Squat
340 x 3 x 4 (w/o belt, 2 on last)
340 x 3 x 2 (w/ belt)
Want to strengthen up my back more and more. So tried a few squats today without the belt. I typically have been squatting without a belt if its less than 75%, so this was different and definitely hard. I was supposed to get 8 sets in at 347#. I was also supposed to Snatch and Clean and Jerk quite a bit and didn’t get to any of that.